Beyond What Meets the Eye | 5Y News Monthly

5Y News Monthly

"5Y News Monthly" is a regular column from 5Y Capital. At the start of each month, we look back at the past month's news and updates from 5Y and our portfolio companies, sharing them with friends who follow us — we hope it helps you get to know us better.

01 Portfolio Company Highlights

Major news about funding rounds, IPOs, strategic partnerships, breakthroughs, and new product launches from 5Y portfolio companies.

02 5Y Capital Updates

News about 5Y honors, investor interviews, and thought leadership.

Note: Companies are listed in alphabetical order by pinyin.

01

Portfolio Company Highlights

Abogen's COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine ARCoV Receives Emergency Use Authorization in Indonesia

On September 30, Abogen Biosciences announced that ARCoV, its COVID-19 mRNA vaccine developed jointly with the Academy of Military Medical Sciences of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Walvax Biotechnology, received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from Indonesia's Food and Drug Administration (BPOM). This marks Abogen's first EUA overseas and China's first mRNA vaccine approved for clinical use internationally. Read more

Benben Technology Closes Nearly RMB 100 Million Series A

In October, Benben Technology announced the completion of its Series A round, raising nearly RMB 100 million. The round was co-led by Pine VC and Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, with follow-on investment from a prominent industry investor and Ascent Capital. Existing shareholders 5Y Capital and MiraclePlus increased their stakes, with Beituo Capital serving as exclusive financial advisor. Benben plans to use the proceeds primarily for technology R&D, with subsequent investments in market expansion and production. Read more

Volkswagen Group Partners with Horizon Robotics to Form Joint Venture in China

In October, CARIAD, the software company of Volkswagen Group, announced a new partnership with Horizon Robotics, a leader in high-performance intelligent driving computing platforms, to accelerate the development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems for the Chinese market. CARIAD will form and hold a majority stake in a joint venture with Horizon Robotics. Volkswagen Group plans to invest approximately €2.4 billion in the partnership, with the transaction expected to close in the first half of 2023. Tailored to Chinese market demands, CARIAD and Horizon Robotics will jointly develop leading, highly optimized full-stack ADAS and autonomous driving solutions that integrate multiple functions on a single chip, improving system stability while reducing costs and energy consumption. Read more

XtalPi Enters Research Collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals

On October 27, XtalPi announced a research collaboration with a Janssen Pharmaceuticals subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson to provide novel structural compound design, screening, and synthesis services for Janssen. The research agreement was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation. Under the agreement, XtalPi will deliver small-molecule active compounds meeting specified feature criteria for targets designated by Janssen. XtalPi will deploy its comprehensive end-to-end platform — inclusive digital drug discovery and development — incorporating proprietary cloud-based computing and advanced wet-lab capabilities, aimed at shortening the "design-make-test-analyze" (DMTA) cycle. Read more

Kuaishou and Akamai Jointly Deploy QUIC to Enhance Overseas Video Experience

In October, Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), a trusted solutions provider for supporting and protecting digital experiences, partnered with Kuaishou (HK: 1024), a global leading short-video platform, to enhance overseas users' video experience through full deployment of the QUIC protocol. This QUIC deployment marks another collaboration between the two companies since establishing their long-term partnership in 2015, aiming to provide better user experiences for Kuaishou's global users, content creators, and partners through end-to-end optimization across Kuaishou's client and server infrastructure and Akamai's global intelligent edge platform. Read more

Deepexi and Pudaoxinyu Form Partnership

In October, Pudaoxinyu and Deepexi reached an in-depth partnership to jointly optimize Pudaoxinyu's data infrastructure, improve its data governance system, and build out data warehouse and metrics platforms — thereby enhancing refined operations for credit reporting services and advancing Pudaoxinyu's digital transformation strategy. The collaboration will focus on infrastructure construction across data collection, integration, and application layers to improve data warehouse service capabilities. Meanwhile, addressing deeper data application needs such as data processing, the partners will establish data standards, improve data quality, and provide metrics data services through a metrics management platform, enabling data visualization at the application layer to drive business value. Read more

PingCAP Launches TiDB Cloud Serverless Tier BETA

Enterprise open-source distributed database company PingCAP announced the official release of TiDB Cloud Serverless Tier BETA at HTAP Summit — a fully managed, fully automated HTAP database service that enables developers to deploy infrastructure in the most cost-effective way. TiDB Cloud Serverless Tier is built for scaled transactional workloads, real-time analytics, hybrid workloads, and applications with traffic surges, automatically scaling to meet real-time demands. Developers can deploy and configure a fully functional serverless TiDB database with just a few clicks. Read more

SenseTime Releases Intelligent Mining AI Perception System

In October, SenseTime officially released its Intelligent Mining AI Perception System, committed to empowering traditional coal mining and extraction with leading AI technology, accelerating intelligent transformation and upgrading of coal enterprises. The system is built around SenseFoundry Enterprise, SenseTime's enterprise open platform, with SenseCore, SenseTime's AI large-scale infrastructure, as its underlying foundation. Through high-efficiency, automated, and intensive methods, it mass-produces high-quality intelligent mining AI algorithms, significantly reducing costs, improving deployment efficiency, and accelerating the intelligentization process. Since 2022, SenseTime's Intelligent Mining AI Perception System has been deployed and piloted at multiple coal mines under Shengdong Coal Group, China Coal Group, and Kailuan Group. Read more

Surpine Closes Tens of Millions RMB Angel Round

Functional athletic base layer brand Surpine recently announced the completion of a tens of millions RMB angel round, with 5Y Capital as the sole investor. The funding will be used for product R&D, brand upgrading, business expansion, and team growth. Founded in 2018, Surpine focuses on multi-category, multi-scenario, multi-functional professional athletic base layer equipment. The brand started with skiing and has gradually expanded to outdoor mountaineering, fitness training, and other sports scenarios, specializing in seamless athletic base layers to deliver more professional athletic experiences for sports enthusiasts. Read more

Pony.ai and RoboSense Enter Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

On October 12, Pony.ai announced a comprehensive strategic partnership with RoboSense. Leveraging Pony.ai's full-stack autonomous driving technology R&D expertise and RoboSense's combined advantages in LiDAR product performance and mass production capabilities, the two companies will pursue in-depth cooperation across the full business chain in autonomous driving and intelligent transportation, promoting the deployment and scaled application of autonomous driving technology solutions. Read more

Xpeng G9 Passes Autonomous Driving Closed-Field Test

On October 10, in accordance with Guangzhou's autonomous driving function testing requirements for intelligent connected vehicles, the Xpeng G9 successfully passed the closed-field autonomous driving test, becoming the first mass-production vehicle on sale in China to do so. Conducted at night, the test validated the vehicle's autonomous driving performance in complex comprehensive urban road scenarios through 31 urban road scenarios including traffic signal recognition and response, left/right turn conflict navigation, lane merging and overtaking, and two-wheeler and pedestrian avoidance. Read more

Xpeng Motors' Flying Car X2 Completes First Overseas Public Flight

On October 10, Xpeng Motors' flying car, the X2, completed its first overseas public flight in Dubai — following the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority's issuance of a special flight permit for the X2, this marked its first public flight demonstration in the region. The X2 is the fifth-generation flying car independently developed and manufactured by Xpeng Motors. Featuring an enclosed cockpit and full carbon-fiber construction for lightweighting, the X2 can carry two passengers and is designed for low-altitude flight in future cities, meeting short-distance urban travel needs while also serving scenarios such as wilderness rescue and medical transport. Read more

Ufowin Closes RMB 100 Million Series C

Ufowin Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., a leading domestic provider of intelligent business decision solutions, announced in October the completion of its RMB 100 million Series C round, led by Yunhui Capital, with participation from Borun Capital, Huading Investment, and Hainan Rongya. Existing shareholders SAIC Hengxu and 5Y Capital made additional investments. The proceeds will primarily support the deployment of Ufowin's intelligent decision platform in industrial manufacturing, strengthen the market competitiveness of its core product — intelligent supply chain planning and scheduling — and further expand market presence, deepening Ufowin's leading position and advantages in the era of intelligent decision commercialization. Read more

GalaxySpace and China Academy of Information and Communications Technology Complete 3GPP IoT NTN Satellite Trial

In October, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and GalaxySpace (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. jointly conducted an in-orbit technical trial of satellite IoT systems, for the first time validating the applicability of narrowband IoT signals based on the 3GPP IoT NTN protocol in low-earth-orbit satellite communication systems. The trial employed an IoT NTN test verification platform developed by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, relying on GalaxySpace's low-earth-orbit test satellite and ground gateway station to conduct in-orbit satellite testing of 3GPP IoT NTN signals. Read more

02

5Y Capital Updates

5Y Adventure x Desert Island Survival | Limits Are Expanded in Extreme Environments

5Y Adventure is a special program 5Y launched this year. The first edition was initiated by 5Y partner Zhang Fei, and we spent 4 days and 3 nights on a desert island with 9 founders.

Why should founders go to a desert island to survive? Facing food scarcity, scorching sun and fierce winds, swarms of mosquitoes — what does this mean for them?

The original intention behind 5Y Adventure is our belief that without truly reaching physical and mental limits, you'll never discover what lies beyond — things you won't find no matter how long you stare in the mirror or debate in conference rooms. Limits are expanded in extreme environments. What we think we're expanding are physical boundaries, but the impact actually goes much deeper. Read more

5Y 3Sigma Roundtable | How Far Are General-Purpose Robots from Human Society?

When machines connect with consciousness, sensibility, knowledge, self-awareness, and other human characteristics, what new possibilities emerge? Can general-purpose intelligent robots completely replace function-specific specialized robots? What does Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus, unveiled on September 30, mean for the industry? How far are general-purpose robots from human society? At the third 5Y 3Sigma Roundtable, we focused on this topic, with 9 entrepreneurs and researchers in this field sharing their perspectives and insights on general-purpose robots — perhaps their views will inspire you. Read more

Zilliz's Charles Xie: Entrepreneurship Means Facing Your Own Ignorance Every Day | 5Y Tavern Vol. 8

When venturing into uncharted territory, how should entrepreneurs face uncertainty? In the eighth episode of 5Y Tavern, Charles Xie, founder of Zilliz, shared his story. Founded in 2017, Zilliz chose a path few had taken — when building vector databases, this entirely new category, there was no prior experience to draw from, and even the team itself was full of doubts.

Any pioneer inevitably faces this situation, embracing innovation while also embracing enormous uncertainty. Xie also noted that the hardest part of entrepreneurship is that "every day you have to face your own ignorance." But like the Guardians of the Galaxy, exploring the vast universe is itself the mission of Charles Xie and his team. When you choose to view problems at greater scale and higher dimension, uncertainty itself becomes a driving force forward. Read more

5Y Capital Founding Partner Qin Liu Named Among China's 30 Most Influential Investors of 2022

In 2022, with recurring COVID-19 outbreaks domestically and international geopolitical conflicts, entrepreneurs and investors faced enormous challenges in this environment of uncertainty. This year, Fortune (Chinese edition) continued its collaboration with Zero2IPO for the "China's 30 Most Influential Investors" selection. Based on candidates' institutional categories, assets under management, number and scale of portfolio companies, exit returns, portfolio company market capitalization, combined with investors' market influence and other comprehensive criteria, the selection identified the 30 most influential investors in China's VC/PE market since 2021. Qin Liu, founding partner of 5Y Capital, was named to the list. Read more**

5Y Capital Named to EqualOcean 2022 Top 30 China Cross-Border/Globalization Investment Institutions

In October, EqualOcean released its 2022 China Cross-Border/Globalization Investment Institutions ranking. Based on research of 100+ startups and financial advisory firms, the ranking evaluated institutions' activity in cross-border/globalization investments from the second half of 2021 through September 2022 as the primary criterion, combined with the development status of their previously invested related projects, to select the Top 30 China Cross-Border/Globalization Investment Institutions of 2022. 5Y Capital was named to the list.

5Y Capital Named to VCJ 2022 Global Top 50 Venture Capital Firms

Venture Capital Journal (VCJ), an authoritative publication in the venture capital field, announced its 2022 Global Top 50 Venture Capital Firms ranking, with 5Y Capital named to the list. VCJ is highly professional in investment research, data tracking, and trend analysis, and its Global Top 50 VC Firms ranking is widely recognized as an industry bellwether. This year's ranking was based primarily on new capital raised over the past five years, covering leading venture capital firms from countries including the United States, Canada, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and France.

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